The present invention relates generally to cabinet mounted drawers of the slide mounted type.
It has heretofore been a common practice in cabinet mounted slide drawer arrangements to provide the drawer on its opposite sides with side rails which are respectively slidably guided in their sliding movement by upper and lower guide rails fixedly supported on the cabinet.
Such conventionally known drawer arrangements find quiet general use in industrial installations for the mounting of electronic and other electrical components in order to provide quick access to the drawer mounted equipment for the purpose of checking, maintenance, repair, replacement, and other reasons. In such installations, it is customary to provide at the back of the drawer, a plurality of electric plug connectors which will be engaged during the final closing movement of the drawer, and disengaged during the initial opening movement of the drawer. It will be appreciated that this engagement and disengagement of the plug connectors requires the application of increased forces over and above that normally required to slidably move the drawer. Additional means are therefore desirably necessary to mechanically produce these increased forces in a practical manner, and which will also function to effectively and releasably lock the drawer in its fully closed position.
For the foregoing purpose, the present invention provides a first actuator means in the form of a drawer handle which is operable in the usual manner for opening and closing the drawer. This handle is swingably mounted and connected with a swingably mounted hook which is movable between locking and non-locking positions in response to the handle movements. The hook has an end opening slot adapted in the non-locking position of the hook to receive a cabinet mounted keeper thereinto as the drawer approaches a fully closed position, and in which position the plug connectors are beginning their engagement. The actuator handle may now be swung in a direction to swing the hook towards its locking position to force the keeper further into the slot to a position in which a camming surface is effective to apply increased forces to the drawer for completing its movement to a fully closed position in which the plug connectors will be fully connected. The camming surface of the hook is also operative to apply increased forces during the initial opening movement of the drawer from its fully closed position during which time the plug connectors will be disconnected.
A further important vital problem arises when it is attempted to use these known cabinet drawer mounting arrangements for the drawer mounting of electronic and other sensitive equipment in cabinet locations, such as on shipboard, where they may be subjected to environmental vibrations and shock forces which can be generated and magnified to undesirable proportions by movements of the slidable drawers within the clearance limits of their cabinet slide mounting structures.
In the present invention, the foregoing problem has been solved by the provision of a second actuator means in the form of a unique slide locking mechanism. For such purpose, similar locking mechanisms are carried respectively on the opposite sides of the drawer and include in each case a manually operable elongated locking bar which is mounted on a drawer slide rail for translatory movement throughout its length between a non-locking lowered position and a locking raised position in which it engages one of the guide rails with a resiliently applied wedging action that is effective in both a horizontal direction and a vertical direction to positively remove loose clearances in the slide mounting structure of the sliding drawer. Thus, shock and vibrational loads applied to the cabinet will not be amplified by reason of loose sliding clearances in the drawer mounting, or transmitted into the sensitive electronic or other equipment mounted in the drawer.